The Deathday Party
As October arrived there was a sudden spate of colds. Pepperup potion cured the colds but caused the drinker to smoke at the ears for several hours afterwards. Ginny was bullied into taking some by Percy.
"Thanks, Perc." Ginny pulled a face. "I looked like my head was on fire."
"You looked really pale," Percy frowned. Honestly, after what he'd heard at the end of that year, he wished he'd taken more notice of his sister's unusual behaviour. And he highly suspected he had been given a highly watered-down version of events.
"I'm glad at least one of your brothers was looking out for you," Molly said with a frown. "Thank you, Percy."
The steam gave the impression her head was on fire.
Ginny scowled.
It rained for days on end, turning the flower beds into muddy streams and Hagrid's pumpkins swelled to the size of garden sheds.
Kingsley whistled, looking impressed.
"Sounds like you could have done with them acting like garden sheds in that rain," Ted noted.
Oliver Wood was as enthusiastic for training as ever, leading to Harry returning to Gryffindor tower one stormy Saturday afternoon, shortly before Halloween, drenched and covered in mud.
"I hope you took some Pepperup," Molly fretted.
"I didn't get sick." Harry shrugged.
"He never does," Ron groused. "Never seen him have a cold in his life, even in the depths of winter when he never stops shaking from the cold."
"Thanks for sharing that, Ron," Harry scowled at his best friend who looked sheepish. Molly and Sirius began fretting and Harry rolled his eyes as another blanket was tucked around him. "It's perfectly warm in here, Siri."
It hadn't been a good session. The twins had spied on the Slytherins and reported the new brooms had the team appearing as no more than greenish blurs.
Draco smirked.
As Harry squelched down a corridor he came across Nearly Headless Nick who was staring morosely out of a window and muttering under his breath about 'not fulfilling requirements' and 'half an inch'.
"He's still on about that?" Sirius laughed.
"Nearly headless isn't completely headless. You'd think he'd get the memo by now," Tonks agreed.
"Sir Podmore really wasn't all that nice anyway, I don't know why Nick wants to hang out with him more often," Harry muttered.
"You met Sir Podmore, head of the Headless Hunt?" Remus asked, looking impressed.
"Yeah. You'll see, it really wasn't much to boast about," Ron told him.
"And Nick wants to join because it's about status," Minerva informed Harry.
"And I suspect it's just habit now. He knows he's never going to get in. He must do after all these years of rejection," Filius put in.
Harry greeted the ghost who stated that he looked troubled as he put away a transparent letter.
"How do ghosts send mail anyway?" George wondered.
"Nobody knows. It's some big ghostly secret," Sirius pouted.
"Some sort of magic, one would assume, but likely only available to ghosts. It probably takes some of their spirit to power the magic," Remus guessed. Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Nick actually liked me," Remus smirked.
Harry replied that so did Nick. Nick told him it was a matter of no importance but continued to mutter about how he didn't really want to join, and he doesn't fulfil requirements.
"No, because the requirement is to be headless." Charlie rolled his eyes. "Which Nick is not."
Despite his airy tone, he looked very bitter. He suddenly erupted, pulling the letter back out, and saying that you would think getting hit forty-five times in the neck with a blunt axe would qualify you to join the Headless Hunt.
"No," said both twins in unison.
"Because as painful as it sounds, it didn't completely sever the head," Bill added.
"A fact we all know. Nick can't hear you," Percy reminded the trio.
Harry said yes, realising he was obviously supposed to agree. Nick continued that nobody wished more than him that it had been quick and clean. He reads the rejection letter to Harry, complaining that half an inch of skin and sinew should be considered good and beheaded but that it wasn't good enough for Sir Properly Decapitated Podmore.
Several people rolled their eyes at the ghost's rant, but made no further comment.
Nick then asked what was bothering Harry and if he could help.
"Well, that's nice of him," Molly said approvingly.
"It's the least he could do seeing at he just unloaded on Harry," Fred pointed out fairly.
Harry was in the middle of saying no unless Nick knew where to get seven Nimbus 2001s when they were interrupted by Mrs Norris.
"Oh, best get moving. Filch will have a fit if he sees you all wet and muddy wandering the castle," Sirius warned.
Nick suggested Harry get out of there as Filch wasn't in a good mood.
"When is he in a good mood?" Ron muttered.
Apparently Filch had the flu and third years plastered frog brains all over the ceiling in dungeon five causing him to be cleaning all morning.
"I'm surprised Snape didn't have the third years in question cleaning the frog brains," George commented in surprise.
"If I had been present, I would have done," Severus sneered. "I was dealing with another student in detention and Filch sorted the mess himself."
Harry agreed but Filch appeared before he could leave with a scarf around his head and an unusually purple nose.
"Ew," Ginny muttered in disgust.
He pointed at the muddle puddle forming where Harry was standing and declared he'd had enough before ordering Harry to follow him.
"Harry didn't do anything wrong. He was on his way back from practice," Sirius snarled.
"We know. Filch is just being Filch," Remus pointed out.
Gloomily, Harry said goodbye to Nick and followed Filch downstairs, doubling the number of muddy footprints.
Several people snorted at Filch making more work for himself.
"That's just stupid," Tonks chuckled.
"He probably plans to make Harry clean it up, so making more mess is amusing for him," Fred scowled.
"I don't think Filch would think up something that devious. He isn't that smart," George pointed out. Fred conceded to that point.
Harry had never been to Filch's office as it was a place most students avoided.
"Na. You find all sorts of good stuff in there," Fred grinned wickedly.
"Like what, precisely?" Molly demanded.
"Parchment," George replied, somehow managing to keep a straight face. Sirius smirked while Harry and Ron avoided eye contact so they wouldn't burst out laughing.
The office was dingy and windowless, lit by a single oil lamp. There was a faint smell of fish. There were also filing cabinets with details of every pupil Filch had punished. Fred and George Weasley had an entire drawer to themselves.
"That it?" Sirius scoffed. "You're, what, starting fourth year at this point? James and I had a drawer each by then. And an entire cabinet between us by the end of school."
"That's not something to be proud of," Minerva told him dryly.
A highly polished collection of chains and manacles hung on the wall behind Filch's desk.
"Why does he even have those?" Bill wondered. "It's not like Dumbledore would ever allow him to use them."
"Certainly not," the headmaster agreed.
"They were left over from Pringle's tenure I suspect," Filius stated. "And I'm sure Argus would never willingly part with them."
"That's creepy," Neville muttered.
It was common knowledge that he was always begging Dumbledore to let him suspend students by their ankles from the ceiling.
"He really shouldn't be around children," Amelia stated. She already had a note of that after his attitude escorting the children to Hagrid's for detention the book before, but this was just adding to the evidence.
Filch grabbed a quill from a pot on his desk and began shuffling around looking for parchment. He muttered to himself as he grabbed a form and began filling in Harry's name and his apparent crime. Harry protested that it was only a bit of mud. Filch shouted that to him it was an extra hour scrubbing.
"If he's ill, he should take some time off. The house-elves can handle a bit of extra cleaning for a couple of days," Pomona said, rolling her eyes.
"I have told Argus that he is entitled to take his sick days, but he constantly refuses," Albus told them before they could start yelling at him for that too.
A drip shivered unpleasantly at the end of his bulbous nose.
"You really need to stop noticing things like that," Neville told Harry with a grimace.
"I didn't write this!" He protested.
He noted down that the crime was befouling the castle.
"That's pretty vague," Fred scoffed.
As Filch was about to fill in the suggested sentence, there was a loud bang on the ceiling of the office. Filch roared Peeves' name and ran from the office, Mrs Norris streaking after him.
"Now's the time to leave," George encouraged.
"And take the form with you so Filch doesn't come back and remember," Fred added.
"Don't be teaching Harry to break the rules and then run from his punishment," Molly scolded.
"Harry didn't break the rules," Sirius reminded her sternly. "Filch was just being a…"
"Sirius," Remus cut him off with a warning glance.
"Just being petty," Sirius finished lamely.
Usually Harry didn't like Peeves, but this time he was grateful for his timing. It sounded like he had wrecked something big this time, and Harry hoped it would distract Filch from his crime. He sat down as he waited.
"Bad idea. Whatever Peeves has done will put him in an even fouler mood. He'll make the punishment extra harsh just for fun," Tonks groaned.
Glancing at the desk, he saw only one thing on it other than his half-completed form. It was a large, purple envelope that Harry picked up.
"That's my boy," Sirius grinned.
"Harry Potter! That is none of your business," Minerva looked at him sternly. Harry just grinned sheepishly.
Reading it, he saw it was Kwikspell.
"Oh, the poor dear," Molly said sympathetically.
"Talk about a lost cause," Bill snorted.
"Why?" Hermione wondered.
"Because mostly it's a scam anyway. But the few helpful tips it does have are for people who struggle to do magic. Filch is a squib and has no magic whatsoever," Bill explained.
Harry read the parchment inside with several reviews praising the Kwikspell course. He wondered why Filch wanted the course and if he meant he wasn't a proper wizard.
"You never wondered why he was always cleaning by hand rather than magic?" Moody raised an eyebrow.
"Never thought about it," Harry admitted.
He was reading through the first lesson which was tips on holding your wand when he heard Filch coming back. He put it back and tossed the envelope onto the desk.
"I hope you put it back in the right place or it's going to be pretty obvious," Fred pointed out. Harry grimaced.
Filch was looking triumphant. He stated that the vanishing cabinet was extremely valuable and that he would have Peeves out this time.
"An exercise as futile as Nick's attempt to join the Headless Hunt. Peeves is never leaving Hogwarts," Tonks scoffed.
He looked at Harry and then glanced over to the Kwikspell envelope, which, Harry realized, was lying two feet away from where it had started.
All of the pranksters in the room groaned.
"Bad move," Remus shook his head.
"I know," Harry sighed.
"At least you know for nest time," Sirius said.
Filch's face went brick red. Harry braced himself for a tidal wave of fury as Filch crossed the room and threw the envelope into one of the desk drawers. He asked if he'd read, and Harry quickly denied it. Filch tried to say it was for a friend.
"Riiiiight," George said sarcastically.
Harry was slightly alarmed as Filch had never looked madder, but the caretaker told him to leave and not to breathe a word. He had to write up Peeves' report. Harry left thinking it must be some kind of record to escape his office without punishment.
"That it impressive," Tonks whistled.
"Especially with him in that kind of mood," Charlie agreed.
"Even if it's not a record, it's certainly an achievement," Fred declared.
Someone asked Harry if it had worked.
"If what worked?" Minerva wondered; eyes narrowed with suspicion.
Nick came gliding out of a classroom. Behind him was the wreckage of a black and gold cabinet. Nick told him he convinced Peeves to crash it right over Filch's office thinking it would distract him.
"Wicked!" The twins exclaimed.
"You guys have the best house ghost," Draco declared, pouting. "The Baron would never do anything like that for us."
"I should think not. I don't want the Baron encouraging Peeves to destroy school property," Severus stated. "He does it well enough on his own."
"Nick is pretty awesome, but he's never done anything like that for us," George frowned.
"Probably because you guys deserve to be caught," Hermione pointed out dryly. "Harry was innocent."
"Us?" George put his hand over his heart and put on a faux innocent face. "We never deserve to be caught by Filch."
"Of course you do," Percy told him in amusement.
Harry asked if that was him.
"He did just say that," Draco pointed out, rolling his eyes. "Honestly, Potter."
"I was just surprised he did it," Harry protested. "Besides, at least our ghost likes me enough to get me out of detention with Filch." Draco went back to pouting.
He said it worked and that he didn't even get detention. Harry thanked Nick and they set off up the corridor together. Nick was still holding the letter and Harry stated he wished there was something he could do to help.
"Which was exactly what Nick was hoping for, or he wouldn't have been holding the letter," Bill chuckled.
"Well, even if he hadn't been, I would have wanted to do something to thank Nick," Harry shrugged.
"Yeah, but I wish you could have done something else," Ron muttered.
"It was…educational," Hermione stated.
"Yeah. An education I could have done without."
Nick stopped in his tracks, causing Harry to walk through him.
Everyone shuddered.
Nick declared there was something he could do. He said that he might be asking too much and that Harry wouldn't want to but Harry asked what it was.
"Good old Nick. Always loves his dramatics," Fred laughed.
Nick stated that Halloween would be his five hundredth deathday. Harry wasn't sure whether to be happy or sorry about that.
"Happy. Ghosts celebrate deathdays like we do birthdays. Except not every year, usually. After the first decade it just becomes big dates like five hundredth," Remus stated.
"I find it fascinating that you know that," Sirius told him conversationally. Remus' cheeks turned a light pink.
Nick continued that he would be holding a party in the dungeons and invited Harry. He added that Ron and Hermione would be welcome as well before saying he was sure they would rather go to the feast.
"Yes," Ron grumbled.
Harry agreed to come which pleased Nick greatly. Then he asked if Harry could possibly mention to Sir Podmore how very frightening and impressive he found Nick.
"It really won't matter. Being frightening and impressive won't get him admitted into the Hunt," Bill chuckled.
"No, but it'll make him look impressive if Harry Potter says something like that about him," Emmeline pointed out. Harry rolled his eyes.
Harry agreed. Nick beamed. Hermione was interested when Harry told her and Ron about it, thinking it would be fascinating. Ron wondered why anyone would want to celebrate the day they died.
"They're ghosts. They should have something to celebrate, and it seems weird celebrating your birthday when you're dead," Charlie said fairly.
"Still seems weirder to celebrate the day you died," Ron stated.
It was still raining. The common room was full of people, including the twins who were trying feed a firework to a salamander.
"You were WHAT?" Charlie yelled before Molly could even open her mouth. He was glowering furiously at the twins who cowered away from his fury.
"It was a fire salamander. It didn't hurt him!" George said quickly.
"That's not the point. Did you know he would definitely be safe when you tried it?" He demanded. The twins exchanged guilty looks.
"We highly suspected?" Fred offered.
"I'm ashamed of the two of you. How dare you experiment on an innocent animal like that!"
"Sorry, Charlie," they muttered together. Molly's eyebrows rose in surprise as she eyed her second eldest son.
Fred had "rescued" the lizard from a Care of Magical Creatures class and it was now smouldering gently on a table surrounded by a knot of curious people.
Charlie muttered angrily under his breath. Minerva was also glaring at the twins.
Harry was telling Ron and Hermione about Filch and the Kwikspell course when the salamander suddenly whizzed into the air, emitting loud sparks and bangs as it whirled wildly round the room.
"Sorry!" The twins squeaked under the renewed glare of their older brother.
"You two are going to learn some respect for animals if it's the last thing I do," Charlie vowed.
As Percy bellowed himself hoarse at Fred and George and a spectacular display of tangerine stars showered from the salamander's mouth, and its escape into the fire, both Filch and the Kwikspell envelope were driven from Harry's mind.
"I don't blame you," Ron said quietly. He glanced around to make sure Charlie wasn't paying attention before adding, "it was pretty impressive."
By the time Halloween arrived, Harry regretted his rash promise to go to the deathday party. Hermione stated that a promise is a promise.
Ginny curled in on herself slightly at the mention of Halloween.
"And it was Harry that made the promise. If he choses not to keep it then that's his business," Tonks pointed out kindly. "You could still go anyway and it would be up to Harry to make it up to Nick or to deal with the consequences. Most likely toe guilt on his conscious."
"I wouldn't have backed out, no matter how much I wanted to," Harry stated. "Nick did help me out of a pretty sticky spot, I was just moaning about missing the feast."
"Why didn't you go and grab some food before going down?" Sirius wondered.
"Hadn't been to the kitchens before." Harry shrugged. "And if I went into the Great Hall I would have stayed, promise or no promise. Not to mention trying to drag Ron out would have been impossible." The Weasleys all laughed.
At seven o'clock, Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked past the doorway to the Great Hall, and headed toward the dungeons. The corridor leading to the party had been lined with black candles, burning with a blue flame and it got colder with every step they took.
"It was absolutely freezing," Hermione said with a grimace.
"Even for the dungeons it was bloody cold," Ron agreed.
"Ronald!" Molly scolded.
They soon heard what sounded like a thousand fingernails scraping an enormous blackboard.
Remus winced and several people pulled disgusted faces.
"I mean, do they lose sense of hearing when they die?" Ron wondered.
"It certainly sounded like it," Harry muttered.
"Even if, by some miracle, Nick liked it, it certainly could have been a bit quieter," said Hermione.
Ron asked if that was supposed to be music.
"Sounds worse than Celestina Warbeck," Fred noted in disgust. Molly glared at him but said nothing as several people were nodding in agreement.
They turned a corner and saw Nearly Headless Nick standing at a doorway hung with black velvet drapes. He greeted them and bowed them inside. It looked incredible, with hundreds of ghosts waltzing to the sound of thirty musical saws played by an orchestra.
"Musical saws?" Tonks raised her eyebrows.
"Must be a ghost thing. None of them seemed to mind it," Harry told her.
A chandelier overhead blazed midnight blue with a thousand more black candles. Their breath was visible and Harry suggested they look around, wanting to warm his feet up.
"I hope you got out of there as soon as was polite," Sirius muttered. Harry nodded. Although, given what happened it would probably have been better if they'd stayed a bit longer.
Ron told them to be careful not to walk through anyone as they edged around the dance floor.
"Which was harder than it sounded, given how many ghosts were there," Ron added.
They passed several ghosts, including the Fat Friar and the Bloody Baron. Hermione abruptly told them to turn back as she didn't want to talk to Moaning Myrtle. Harry asked who that was as they backtracked. She explained the ghost haunted the girls' bathroom on the first floor.
Ginny shuddered at the mention of the bathroom. She knew her book-self was probably in there right now, possessed, opening the Chamber.
Hermione continued that it's been out of order all year because she keeps having tantrums and flooding the place.
"It's not just that year. She does it almost every year," Tonks stated.
"Well, unfortunately, ghosts never age or mature past the time they died, regardless of how long they have been a ghost," Filius stated. "So, Myrtle is frozen forever as a hormonal teenager."
"She was always prone to overreacting," Minerva murmured to herself.
She never went in there anyway if she could avoid it as it's awful trying to have a pee with her wailing at you.
"Lovely," Tonks said, wrinkling her nose. Hermione blushed.
Ron pointed out some food.
"It won't be edible," Remus warned.
"Yeah," Ron sighed. "We noticed. What a waste. It's not as if they can enjoy it."
A long table, covered in black velvet, held several dishes of rotten food, including rotten fish, mouldy cheese and maggoty haggis. The place of pride held an enormous grey cake in the shape of a tombstone.
"That's disgusting!" Bill exclaimed.
"Why would they do that?" Charlie groaned.
"Blasphemy!" Fred cried.
"I can't believe the house-elves allowed it," George noted. "They hate wasting food."
"A member of staff procured the food," Filius informed them. "While the elves would never refuse a direct order, none of us had the heart to force them to make food for the party."
Harry watched as a portly ghost approached the table, crouched low, and walked through it, his mouth held wide so that it passed through one of the stinking salmon. He asked if he could taste it, and the ghost replied: almost.
"So, they can't even taste it a little? That's just so wrong," Charlie complained. "Perfectly good food going to waste."
Hermione guessed they let it rot to give it a stronger flavour as she pinched her nose to get a closer look at the haggis.
"But it's not a flavour anyone should want to taste," Ron pointed out.
"Ghosts are weird," Fred declared.
"Yeah. Apparently they lose their hearing, taste and their marbles!" Ron declared.
"You're a brave one," George told Hermione. "Getting closer to that voluntarily."
"Not, just endlessly curious even if it's detrimental to her health," Harry laughed. Hermione poked him in the arm.
Ron asked if they could move as he felt sick.
"Don't blame you, Ronnie," Bill muttered.
"You boys and food," Molly said fondly.
As they turned around, Peeves came swooping over. Harry greeted him cautiously and he offered the nibbles, waving a bowl of fungus covered peanuts in their faces.
"It's Peeves. You're lucky he didn't just throw them at you," Remus muttered.
Hermione declined. Peeves commented he heard them talking about Myrtle and that Hermione was rude about her. He called over to Myrtle and Hermione whispered for him not to tell her as it would upset her.
"Bad idea. Telling Peeves it would upset her is as good as getting him to do it," Fred informed her, shaking his head.
"Yeah. Best to pretend you don't care," George agreed. "He'll get bored and pick a new target."
She greeted Myrtle as the ghost glided over. She had the glummest face Harry had ever seen, half hidden behind her hair and glasses.
"She always looks like that," Tonks stated.
"Yeah, she takes offense at everything. Always assumes people are talking about her behind her back or insulting her," Charlie agreed.
"Why would you know that? She rarely leaves the girls' bathroom?" Andromeda asked, raising an eyebrow. Charlie blushed slightly.
"Well, as she scares everyone off, her bathroom is a good place for private conversations."
"Charles Weasley!" Molly yelped.
"It's honestly a surprise she made an appearance at the party," Tonks said, quickly changing the subject from Charlie in the girls' bathroom.
"She's lonely and probably wanted to make friends," Luna offered quietly.
Myrtle asked what and Hermione asked how she was, commenting it was nice to see her out of the toilet. Peeves stated that Miss Granger was just talking about Myrtle and Hermione quickly tried to say she'd been commenting on how nice Myrtle looked.
"She won't believe you," Tonks stated.
"It was worth a try," Hermione sighed.
Myrtle eyed Hermione suspiciously, saying she was making fun of her. Hermione denied this, dragging the boys into the lie. They both agreed Hermione had been saying how nice Myrtle looked but the ghost told them not to lie. She added that she knew people called her names like Fat Myrtle, Ugly Myrtle and Miserable, moaning, moping Myrtle.
"I mean, she's not wrong about the Moaning Myrtle one," Bill said fairly. "It's what she's known as."
"That doesn't make it nice," Arthur told him before Molly could start scolding.
Peeves hissed that she had forgotten pimply. Myrtle burst into sobs and fled.
"The poor dear," Molly sighed.
"It happens all the time. Even without Peeves' interfering," Tonks assured her.
Peeves shot after her yelling 'Pimply' and throwing mouldy peanuts at her.
"He's a menace," Minerva sighed, shaking her head.
"That's rather tame for Peeves," Pomona pointed out.
Nick came over and asked if they were enjoying themselves. They lied and said yes. He stated it wasn't a bad turnout and the Wailing Widow came all the way from Kent.
"Now I'm curious about how ghosts travel around, because they can't apparate can they? That's a long way to float," Harry mused. Nobody had an answer.
He added that it was almost time for his speech so he should warn the orchestra. Before he could, they stopped playing anyway as a hunting horn sounded. Nick bitterly commented 'here we go'.
"He's acting like he didn't invite them," Fred noted, rolling his eyes.
"To be fair, they did act like complete jerks and take over the whole thing despite the fact it was for Nick," Harry said.
"Nick knows what the Hunt are like. If he didn't want them to take over the event, he shouldn't have invited them," Charlie stated.
Through the dungeon wall burst a dozen ghost horses, each ridden by a headless horseman. People began clapping, including Harry, but he stopped when he saw Nick's expression. The horses galloped into the middle of the dance floor and the leader leapt off his horse, lifting his head high in the air to look over the crowd before striding over to Nick.
"He certainly sounds…interesting," Neville mumbled.
He greeted Nick, asking if his head was still hanging in there.
"There's no need for that," Minerva said disapprovingly.
"Yeah, it's Nick's party and he's clearly sensitive about the issue," Ginny agreed.
He gave a hearty guffaw and clapped Nearly Headless Nick on the shoulder. Nick welcomed him a little stiffly. Podmore spotted the trio and gave a fake jump that made his head fall off and the crowd laugh. Nick darkly commented that it was amusing.
"No manners," Molly tutted.
Podmore's head shouted for them not to mind Nick as he's still upset about not being able to join the Hunt. Harry cut in and tried to live up to his promise to say how frightening Nick was but he was not very convincing.
"Wow Harry, I don't think you could have sounded less convincing," Tonks laughed.
"Yeah. You might as well have held a sign saying Nick asked you to say that," Ted agreed with a grin.
"It was nice of you to try though," said Remus as Sirius clapped Harry on the shoulder.
Podmore guessed Nick had asked Harry to say that. Nick tried to get everyone's attention for his speech. Unfortunately as he started speaking Podmore and the Hunt began a game of Head Hockey that the crowd turned to watch. Nick tried to recapture the audience but after Podmore's head went sailing past him to loud cheers he gave up.
"Yeah, ok. They could have at least waited until after his speech to start the game," Charlie said with a frown.
"Poor Nick," Bill said sympathetically.
Harry was very cold and hungry now. Ron muttered that he couldn't stand much more of it, and they all agreed to leave, hurrying back up the passageway full of black candles. Ron hopefully said that pudding might not be finished yet but as they headed towards the steps leading to the entrance hall Harry heard a voice saying 'rip…tear…kill'.
Ginny paled and buried her face in her mother's shoulder.
"What?" Sirius yelped. "Again?"
"I don't suppose Peeves has come back from teasing Myrtle?" Tonks offered uneasily.
"This isn't a Peeves kind of thing," Fred told her.
It was the same voice, the same cold, murderous voice he had heard in Lockhart's office.
"I don't like this," Emmeline muttered.
"Now, why wouldn't you like a mysterious, cold, murderous voice being heard around a school full of children?" Kingsley asked sarcastically.
"But why now? Harry hasn't heard it since that first week back with Lockhart. It's a different location in the castle and a completely different day. The only thing in common is Harry," Ted stated thoughtfully. "Surely we would have heard if other students had heard a similar voice?"
"Not necessarily. Harry didn't report the voice, maybe other people heard it to and did the same," Bill said.
"You better report that voice this time," Remus told Harry sternly.
"Uh…well…you'll see?"
"You're telling us you didn't report a murderous voice saying it wants to rip, tear and kill?" Amelia raised an eyebrow.
"You'll understand why I didn't in a second," Harry told her.
He stopped and listened with all his might. The other two were confused but Harry told them it was the voice again. It said it was so hungry for so long. Harry urged the other two to listen. It said it was time to kill and Harry noted the voice was getting fainter.
"What? It's moving away from you? But surely you would have seen it? Or heard movement of some kind?" Charlie frowned.
"That's your concern? Harry, Ron and Hermione are right near something that wants to kill!" Sirius yelled.
"Well, clearly, those three are fine," Bill reminded him calmly. Hermione fought to hide a shudder while Ron and Harry exchanged looks.
"Let's just read and find out what happened," Arthur said, trying to keep his own voice steady. He had no desire to hear this story again. Harry's retelling (most likely very watered down) had been enough, and these would contain details he never wanted to know. But he also couldn't help wanting to know exactly what his children had been through. Going to Egypt that summer had seemed to help Ginny and by the time Hogwarts had started again she had seemed to be back to her usual self. But what if that wasn't true? He saw the same fear reflected in Molly's eyes. They would have to keep a close eye on Ginny through the book, and afterwards.
Harry was sure it was moving upwards.
"Upwards?" Andromeda frowned.
"How is that possible? Unless it's a ghost," Draco wondered. He had always wanted to know what had happened that year. Dumbledore had told them nothing except that the danger had been dealt with. But hearing what Harry had heard, suddenly he didn't wonder if he was better off not knowing. What had his father done? It was sounding less and less like his father had any control over what he had apparently allowed to happen.
"I'm not sure," Narcissa told him. She was going to murder her husband once she got out of here.
A mix of fear and excitement gripped him.
"Excitement?" Remus asked as all of the adults stared at Harry as if he were insane. "A murderous voice says it's time to kill and you feel excited?"
"Er…it was a mystery, and I was curious?"
"You should have stayed at fear and gone to get a teacher!" Minerva told him sternly.
"Lockhart hadn't heard it in his office, and I don't exactly have the best record with teacher's believing me," Harry shot back. His head of house looked down guiltily.
He wondered if it was a phantom.
"Possibly, but those don't get hungry. Not truly. Nor can they kill, unless it's a poltergeist like Peeves who can move objects with which to kill," Bill said.
He began to run up the stairs to the entrance hall. There was too much noise coming from the Great Hall, so he ran up the marble staircase, Ron and Hermione behind him.
"Potters," Severus muttered to himself. How was he supposed to keep the boy alive when he did things like this?
"Harry James Potter! You don't go chasing after strange, murderous voices that want to kill!" Molly shrieked.
"She's right. That was incredibly stupid. Even if you didn't want to tell a teacher, you should still have gone into the safety of the hall," Sirius told him sternly.
"You ran around with a werewolf once a month!" Harry hissed at him, making sure to keep his voice quiet.
"That was different and you know it. We took proper precautions."
"Not when you left the shack. You said yourself there were close calls." Sirius sighed and looked away. Harry was right. How could he scold Harry for his stupidity when he had done worse himself? He wasn't cut out for this whole (god)parenting thing.
"Harry Potter, you know Sirius is right. The fact that we did foolish things in school, doesn't mean it is acceptable for you to run off after strange voices, let alone ones that want to kill," Remus stated firmly, giving Harry a stern look that deflated his defensive bravado.
"Sorry," he muttered. He glanced back at the rest of the room. Thankfully, they had started talking amongst themselves while they had their whispered conversation. Once everyone was ready, they began reading again.
One of the other two started talking but Harry shushed them. The voice grew even fainter as it said it smelt blood. Harry shouted that it was going to kill someone.
"What was your first clue?" Andromeda asked him sarcastically. "It's already said it wants to kill."
"Now is the time to get a teacher," Arthur stated, despite knowing it wouldn't happen.
Ignoring Ron's and Hermione's bewildered faces, he ran up the next flight of steps three at a time.
"Harry!" Several people groaned in despair.
He hurtled around the whole of the second floor and not stopping until they turned a corner into the last, deserted passage. Ron asked what that was about as he hadn't heard anything.
"What?" Amelia blinked in surprise. "Neither of you heard it?" They both shook their heads gravely.
"Not a thing," Ron confirmed.
"So, why can Harry hear it and nobody else?" Andromeda wondered. Harry grimaced as several eyes turned to look at him. He said nothing. So did all those who already knew.
But Hermione gave a sudden gasp, pointing down the corridor at something shining on the wall.
"Definitely time to leave," Charlie urged.
They approached slowly, squinting through the darkness.
There was another round of groaning at the actions of the trio.
"Seriously, I thought you had more sense Hermione," Tonks said. "Even without hearing the voice, Harry started yelling about someone wanting to kill. I can't believe you didn't suggest getting a teacher."
"Honestly, I was too confused. At first, I didn't want to leave the other two running off after whatever it was without me, and once we were in the corridor, it simply didn't occur to me," she admitted sheepishly.
Foot high words were on the wall between two windows, reading: THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.
Ginny shivered, she hadn't moved from Molly's shoulder since the voice was first mentioned and her parents grew more and more concerned. If she was struggling with reading about this bit, they dreaded to think how much worse it would get.
Ron asked what was hanging underneath.
"Oh gods," Emmeline whispered.
Amelia was just wondering why Susan hadn't mentioned any of this in her letters.
"I bet the three of you didn't even have your wands out. Did you?" Moody barked furiously. All three of them shook their heads, guilty expressions on their faces.
"Although, honestly, if we were attacked it's not like we knew enough magic to fight someone off," Ron pointed out. "Except maybe Hermione."
"You'd have more of a chance than with your wand in your pocket!" He scowled. "Things like this are why the auror department is so light on recruits these days." For once, Amelia was inclined to agree with him. They might have only been twelve, but this whole incident was ridiculous. Running towards a murderous voice and not even pulling their wands out.
They edged nearer.
"There is something seriously wrong with all of you. Go and get a teacher!" Bill glared at his youngest brother. "You have proof something strange in going on."
Harry almost slipped due to a large puddle of water on the floor. Ron and Hermione grabbed him and they kept inching towards the dark shadow under the words.
"For the love of Merlin," Charlie groaned.
"Why is there a huge puddle of water on the floor?" Tonks wondered. Moody nodded his approval at the question. Everyone shrugged though, having no answer.
All three of them realized what it was at once, and leapt backward with a splash.
"What is it?" Several people asked at once, their anxiety skyrocketing.
Mrs. Norris was hanging by her tail from the torch bracket.
"Oh, Merlin," Emmeline breathed, hands coming up to cover her mouth.
"Who is the fool brave enough to mess with Mrs Norris? Filch will go insane," Remus said, a look of impressed horror on his face.
She was stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring.
Luna gasped and looked ready to cry. She'd heard about the incident, of course, but hadn't been in the corridor to see what was going on. Neville patted her arm awkwardly.
"What?" Someone asked for the millionth time.
"She's just stunned? Right?" Tonks asked. Nobody answered.
For a few seconds, they didn't move and then Ron suggested they get out of there.
"Finally!" Bill exclaimed.
"You should have been long gone. Or better yet, not there in the first place!" Molly said as she hugged her daughter tightly.
Harry wondered if they should try to help but Ron told him they didn't want to be found there.
"Ron's right," Charlie said immediately.
It was too late. The feast had just ended and from both ends of the corridor came the sound of hundreds of feet. People poured into the corridor.
"But why? They're on the second floor, right? Nobody's common room is that way," Tonks frowned. "Hufflepuff and Slytherin are off the entrance hall and the other two should have kept going up the stairs."
"That's a really good question," Harry realised.
"There was a rumour about some after feast entertainment," Draco told them.
"What?" Hermione asked, stunned. "In that specific corridor? But, that's too much of a coincidence. Surely."
"He probably wanted people to admire his handiwork," Harry murmured to her.
"But he couldn't have known that it would come across Mrs Norris. Everyone should have been at the feast, Filch and Mrs Norris included," Hermione pointed out, equally quietly.
"Maybe so, but the words were still there," Ron reminded her. "Mrs Norris was probably just a bonus."
The noise died suddenly as the people in front spotted the hanging cat. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood alone, in the middle of the corridor, as silence fell among the students who were pressing forward to see the grisly sight.
"Oh, that's not going to look good at all," Bill groaned.
"How do you three end up in these situations?" Charlie wondered, shaking his head.
"Stupidity," Moody grunted. "All of this could have, and should have, been avoided with a bit of common sense."
Then someone shouted through the quiet that Mudbloods would be next.
"Three guesses who," Charlie said, glaring at Draco.
Severus shot his godson another ferocious glare causing him to sink down in his seat.
It was Draco Malfoy. He had pushed to the front of the crowd, face flushed, as he grinned at the sight of the hanging, immobile cat.
"Of course you would find that funny," George scoffed.
"I thought it was just a prank," Draco said quietly. He didn't say that even once he knew it wasn't a prank, he hadn't been concerned. He had been safe. He had thought nothing of muggleborns being petrified, although his words about wishing one of them had died were not true. They hadn't even been true at the time, not really.
"That's the end of the chapter," Arthur announced.
"Let's have a few minutes break," Minerva suggested, eyeing Ginny and Molly anxiously. She wasn't sure it was the best idea to let Miss Weasley hear about all of this. Maybe she should sit this book out. She would suggest it to the Weasley parents that evening.
Everyone nodded and several people stood up to get snacks or use the bathroom.